Kids collaborating: social emotional learning

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Comment by Roxanne Chadwick on March 22, 2011 at 10:06am

I am a student at the University of Maine for Early Childhood Education currently taking an Educational Technology class.  I am very interested in collaborative interactions in classroom settings.  I would be interested in learning ways to create this environment.

Comment by Rachel Pickett on July 30, 2010 at 3:26pm

Awesome! Thanks :)

I just brainstormed rules... and the purpose of rules. I posted them on the 'rules that set up a SEL classroom' discussion thread. Any thoughts? I'm wanting to create rules that build the type of environment you're talking about.

Comment by Hal on July 30, 2010 at 3:18pm

Being a member of a team provides a student with the opportunity to enhance his or her ability to work well with others – a salient requirement for success in the 21st century. Here are some ways a student can interact productively with other team members while enhancing her or his own group skills.
• Help clarify the mission of the team and what outcomes are expected.
• Notice who the quiet members of the team are. Help those people to be heard by asking them to repeat their comments or by asking their opinions on something. Find ways to help them participate.
• Stay on track and focused. The team needs to keep to its timeline and on task.
• Make sure that everyone is comfortable with the decisions that are made each step of the way. Nothing is worse than completing the task and finding that someone disagreed with something done in the very beginning of the work.
• Ease tension – There are often tense situations that come from teamwork. Not everyone agrees all the time. Find ways to actively listen to someone else's point of view. Help to restate it for the group if some people don't understand it. Make sure everyone understands all sides of the issue. Use humor to release tension.
• Speak out when you have something to contribute. Speaking-out begins with the pronoun "I.” A team member who does not speak-out with-holds his or her input from the team and generally harbors unspoken objections, concerns, and objectives. Such unspoken concerns do not go away, but generally linger to sabotage the health and productiveness of the team effort.
• Contribute to the esprit and motivation of the team by actively and genuinely encouraging other team members and acknowledging their contributions. .
• Listen closely and empathetically in order to fully understand what other team members are trying to communicate.
• Compromise to achieve a shared consensus, and cooperate to achieve it in practice.